MODERN STRAP FITTING

Solid die-struck copper alloy waist-belt plate of the Cornwall Rifle Volunteers with separate soldered wire loop at one side and a soldered flat strap hook at the back. The design on the front is in relief with a grained background. A scroll with the word 'CORNWALL' is draped above the Prince of Wales plume of three feathers within a coronet with the motto ICH DIEN in a banner across it. The three feathers and the motto "lch Dien", German for "I Serve", go back to Edward (1330-1376), the eldest son of Edward III. He was known as the 'Black Prince' because he had his suit of armour painted black, a very unusual thing at the time. He later became the Prince of Wales and the three feathers and coronet have been associated with Wales and the Prince of Wales ever since. The coronet sits above the Cornish shield with fifteen gold 'bezants' with a scroll upcurved across the base of the shield with the words 'ONE AND ALL', the Cornish motto. The gold 'bezants' are said to represent the Byzantine gold coins that were paid as ransom to the Saracens for the release of the Earl of Cornwall in the 9th century. The motto 'One and all' (or in Cornish, 'Onen hag oll'), is said to commemorate the v